PaddleWise by thread

From: Shawn W. Baker <baker_at_montana.com>
subject: [Paddlewise] Surfing deep water waves
Date: Tue, 26 Sep 2000 20:58:33 -0600
Dave wrote:
>the leading wave of a packet of deep water waves (aka a "wave
>train") will eventually feed its energy into the wave following it........Check
>out pages 70-73 of the 1980 version of Willard Bascom's "Waves and Beaches" 

Sure, reference the newer version that I can't afford! ;)

>I think I have noticed this effect trying to maintain a surfing position on
>small stuff, too, but can't be sure of it.  Anybody else experienced that?

Do you mean small deep water waves, or small breaking waves?
I have felt the wave "dissipate" beneath me on smallish (1.5-2') stuff. 
I'm keeping my place on the wave, but then find it has disappeared. 
Have to wait for the wave train to travel back beneath me and catch
another wave.  I was told this summer to at least wait for the 3rd wave
back to get a decent ride, since the first wave loses its energy to #2,
and #2 isn't much better.  Of course, you could theoretically wait for
the last wave in the train, but if you miss it, you may find that you've
completely missed your ride!

-- 
Shawn W. Baker          0                                  46°53'N
© 2000            ____©/______                            114°06'W
~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^\  ,/      /~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^
baker_at_montana.com    0        http://www.geocities.com/shawnkayak/
***************************************************************************
PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not
to be reproduced/forwarded outside PaddleWise without author's permission
Submissions:     PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net
Subscriptions:   PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net
Website:         http://www.paddlewise.net/
***************************************************************************

This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Thu Aug 21 2025 - 16:33:17 PDT